Quote Originally Posted by Errorname View Post
I dispute the read on the 'it worked very well for a long time'. I think we are meant to understand the Phantom Menace as a glimpse at how the Republic and Jedi have historically operated. I do not think we are meant to read it as having only recently become the way it is.
TPM is quite clear that things have gotten bad, like really bad. The Trade Federation not only openly blockades Naboo, when the Jedi arrive on a direct mission from the Chancellor they order their assassination (and kill the Judicial Officers aboard their ship, which is open murder of diplomats) and then invade outright. The Hutts openly control systems and act in blatant defiance of Republic law. The Senate is portrayed as both paralyzed and willing to openly and immediately resolve a vote of no confidence pretty much the moment it is suggested, and only a series of unlikely circumstances: Gungan intervention and Anakin being chosen by the Force, prevent the Trade Federation from occupying Naboo until at least some months after Palpatine is elected. Overall, TPM has the heroes mostly triumph heroically - yes Qui-Gon dies at the hands of Darth Maul, but otherwise things go pretty good for them - and yet things still get worse. Additionally, EU materials in both versions of canon have made it quite clear the by the time of TPM the Republic is falling apart. They are also both clear that the Republic is collapsing after a prolonged golden age that comes to an end around 100 BBY, so things were, in fact, pretty darn good for about 900 years.

Now, what I would say is that while the PT deliberately shows a crumbling Republic, I think it's depiction of the Jedi Order shows a greater number of unintentional points of failure. For example, Yoda's teaching the Jedi for 800 years (a line that originates in the OT), is intended to demonstrate how awesome Yoda is when in fact it diagnoses one of if not the most significant flaws of the PT Era Jedi. Similarly, when Jocasta Nu claims that 'if it isn't in our archives it doesn't exist' she's making a point about how the Jedi have an incredible amount of knowledge but comes off as condescending and blind to the possibility of treachery. And, of course, in agreeing to assign Anakin and Obi-Wan as Padme's bodyguards as Palpatine suggests, Mace Windu doesn't come off as kindly or accommodating, he comes off as an idiot blind to what inevitably going to happen between Anakin and Padme.

Lucas is on record as saying he depicted the Jedi in a hope of fostering increased spirituality in his audience, which explains the Jedi Order's very obvious religious structure. What I don't think he did is properly consider the implications of having a militant religious order serving in the sort of role the Jedi serve, as specialized paramilitary operatives, would be in an otherwise secular galaxy. As a result, even if the Jedi as given the full benefit of the doubt and everything about their moral philosophy is assumed to represent a true path to enlightenment in the Star Wars galaxy, they remain in conflict with the rest of the setting. This is a similar problem to that possessed by Game of Thrones, as diagnosed by Dr. Devereaux: no one in the setting seems to believe in the Force outside of the Jedi and therefore the Order lacks influence, power, and persuasive tools that it needs to have to make sense as an ongoing concern. This is something that we see in the aftermath of Order 66 - while the various supporters of the Jedi mourn their friends, there's no massive religious uprising or protest of the kind that normally happens when the government massacres the members of a major religious institution.